We're Not Meant To Be
by eltmiss
Summary: Five year after the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy is pressured into transferring into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Little does he know that he will be working with Hermonie Granger, who turns his world upside down as he falls for her. But will this romance work out? Only time will tell...
1. Chapter 1

This is set 5 years after the war.

When Draco Malfoy entered the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures on a rainy day, he was not looking forward to it. He had been working in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes for the last four years, and had been pressured into moving departments because of a "shortage of employees". He didn't really care about magical creatures – he realized the importance of the department, of course – but he didn't want to work there.

He entered the department with a boxful of things from his last desk, and was suddenly assaulted by the amount of sights, smells, and sounds that were coming at him. In one corner, a wizard was busily talking to someone and pointing to a box that kept making squealing sounds and then exploding. The people in the offices kept yelling at each other across the room, making everything very loud. Papers were littered on everyone's desk, and every now and then someone would run across the room doing one thing or another. Draco stood there for a moment, taking everything in, when one of the wizards that was standing noticed him and ran over. He shook Draco's hand.

"Hello Draco, my name is Stan Bullfred, and I'm the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I'm so glad you're joining us," he said with a smile. Stan was an older man, probably in his 50's, Draco thought. He was about 5'5" and balding. However, he stood tall and was very friendly. "Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to your desk, and then you'll be meeting with the young lady that I want you working with for the next few weeks."

Draco followed him as he went down a hallway, wondering who this witch might be. Looking around, Draco definitely felt like he stepped down in departments. The witches and wizards in this department didn't seem to care much about appearances – the robes most wore to work looked shabby and not very well taken care of. They looked disheveled, like they had woken up late to work. Draco, on the other hand, wore his best robes to work today and had immaculately combed his hair back.

"Ok, we're here!" said Stan with a smile, gesturing to a desk that was shoved in a small corner cubicle. _Goodness,_ Draco thought looking at it. It was smaller than his old desk, and that had been the smallest desk in the department! He sighed. This was not going to be a fun transition.

"Well, put your things on your desk, you can get settled in later. I really want to introduce you to your new partner; she's your age and has been working on some legislation for elf rights that I really would like you to take a look at. I know you have some background in magical law, and I think you would really be able to help her out!" With that, Stan looked at Draco enthusiastically. Draco weakly returned the smile, but inside his mind was whirring. Elf rights… a woman… his age…he secretly hoped he wasn't right about who this might be. As they went around another corner, Stan opened another door which led into a well-lit conference room. At the table was a slender woman with curly hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was bent over some paperwork, so Draco couldn't get a good look at her face at first. Stan coughed, and she immediately looked up. Brown eyes met grey, and he immediately knew who it was. Hermonie Granger. She had matured in the five years since he had last seen her. She was dressed in very professional dress robes and her once frizzy hair was now tamed into soft curls. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but some curls had escaped and were framing her face. _Beautiful_, he thought, and then shook himself. This was Hermonie Granger. He can't be attracted to Hermonie Granger.

"Draco, this is Hermonie Granger. She has been working on some really exciting legislation for elf rights that I want you to help her with. Hermonie, Draco has some background in magical law and I think that he could really enhance your bill." Stan looked between the two of them, and then they both nodded and Draco went to sit down. Draco was still in shock that he would be working with Hermonie Granger.

"Ok, well, I'll leave you two to it. Hermonie, I'll check with you in a couple days." And with that, Stan left, leaving them alone.

"Hello Malfoy," Hermonie said, and there was no trace of anger in her voice. She was merely greeting him, although it was very distant and polite.

"Hello Hermonie." She looked momentarily taken aback at the use of her first name, but then collected herself and proceeded to launch into a speech about her vision for elf rights and what she was trying to get accomplished with this legislation. Draco had to admit, she knew what she was doing. She had already gotten tremendous work done, with her bill already passing through two phases of law making already. There were only two more to go, and those were the hardest to get through in order to get your bill passed. After she explained everything, he took a look at the legislation and they sat together and went over ways to improve it so that it was more able to pass.

Three hours later, Draco looked up at the clock and was startled that the time had passed so fast. He had to admit, working with Hermonie wasn't too bad. She was very intelligent, but she didn't act smug about it. She just wanted to get work done. When he pointed out the time to her, she looked shocked and started stacking paper. She insisted that he go eat some lunch and settle in his desk, and then they could meet again at the end of the day.

Leaving the room, he had to wonder how he had never gotten to know her before. _Oh that's right_, he thought, _because I was obsessed with blood status_. Well, the war had changed that. He saw many muggle-borns acting much braver than he ever could be, and saw his father crumble right in front of him. He hadn't spoken that dirty word, _mudblood_, in five years. He made it his vow to get to know Hermonie, because she seemed worth getting to know.


	2. Chapter 2

When Hermonie apparated into her flat that night, she was exhausted. She dropped her purse on the floor and then dropped onto her couch. She laid facedown, her face smushed into the soft fabric, thinking about her day. When her boss had told her earlier that week that she would be working with Draco Malfoy, she had dreaded it. The memories of him taunting her, calling her mudblood, watching as she was tortured by Bellatrix… they had come to the surface and made her extremely nervous.

But then he had walked in, and had called her Hermonie. Not Granger or mudblood, and he did it without sneering at her or using any malice in his voice. And then they worked together for three hours straight. He was focused and had some really great contributions to add, even though Hermonie was pretty sure that he was never a supporter of elf rights.

His attitude had just surprised her. She had expected him to give her attitude, to refuse to put in any real effort, anything but what had happened today. Instead, he had given her respect and acted very professional. He was… changed. He didn't hold his head up the way he used to, like he thought he was better than everyone else. He looked her in the eye. Hermonie wondered why. Lucius and Narcissa hadn't become muggle supporters after the war. In fact, as far as Hermonie knew, they were still obsessed about blood status. In fact, Lucius was still at a low level position in the Ministry because of his actions during the war. So Draco behaving the way he did just didn't make sense to her.

Hermonie made it a vow to figure out why he had changed. She didn't trust him, not yet. She needed to find out if this was just an act or if he had genuinely changed. Until then, she would be on her toes, looking for any signs of trouble.


	3. Chapter 3

A week had passed since Draco had started working with Hermonie, and she was still just as distant and polite as she was the first day. He understood. After years of bullying, he probably wouldn't trust himself either. They were working on separate pieces of legislation right now, and Draco looked at Hermonie. Her hair was down today, and curls kept falling in her face. Even though her hair wasn't frizzy anymore, it still seemed just as untamed as it has always been. He studied her features. He had never noticed how long her eyelashes were. They framed her eyes nicely. After a minute of Draco looking at her, Hermonie finally looked up. She looked confused for a second.

"Do you need something Draco?" She asked, her eyebrows knitted together.

"No, sorry.. um.. I was just wondering how you wanted to word this sentence to make it more appealing to the committee." He picked out the sentence he had just been looking at, and when Hermonie took a look at it, she looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"It looks fine just the way it is." And with that she went back to her work.

_Smooth Draco_, he thought. That was the worst excuse he had ever given anybody. Still, he wanted to get her attention. He wanted her to start talking to him.

"So Hermonie." She looked up at him. "How's your family?" She once again gave him a confused look.

"They're fine. I don't see them that often. They moved to the country, and I don't get a lot of time off work."

"Oh, so where are you living?" Draco asked, genuinely curious. Hermonie gave him a mischievous smile.

"Not so fast Draco. If you're going to ask me questions, I get to ask questions back." He got nervous, but nodded his head.

"Ok, shoot."

"How's your family?" Draco knew she was going to ask that question, even though she knew it was a loaded question.

"They're doing alright. I visit them a lot. They're still my parents. I love them." She nodded, but didn't ask any more questions about his family. He was glad – his parents were known Death Eaters and supporters of the Dark Lord. His dad went to Azkaban for two years, but was let off early because of his lack of support during the end of the war. His mom was known to have saved Harry Potter – he testified at her trial – and was saved from Azkaban. Draco, while being a Death Eater, was let off because the Ministry believed he was being influenced by those around him and would not have joined the Dark Lord willingly. He shook off his thoughts and asked Hermonie another question.

"So how is Weas- Ron?" Even though he didn't care about blood status, Ron still annoyed him to no end. He had a hard time respecting him. "Last I knew you two were together." At that, Hermonie looked down at the table.

"No, we broke up a couple years ago. Actually, he's dating Lavender Brown again. They just got engaged." She looked upset at the thought. "She's asked me to be a bridesmaid."

"Really? Even though she's dating your ex?" Draco was amazed that someone could be that dense.

"Well, to them we're just friends now." Draco could hear the hurt in her voice as she revealed that information.

"How often do you see them? It must be pretty regularly, if she's asked you to be a bridesmaid," Draco observed.

"Molly has Sunday dinner every week, and the whole family is invited. Since Harry and I have been best friends with Ron since first year, we are considered family too. So, to answer your question, every week." Draco's eyebrows shot up. She hung around Weasel and his fiancé every week? No wonder she looked upset. _I would be upset too if I had to watch my ex moon over someone else every week and pretend to be okay with it, _Draco thought, shocked at the situation that Hermonie was putting herself in.

"Why don't you stop going?"

Hermonie sighed. "It's not that easy Draco. That would be rude to Molly and the whole Weasley family. They've done a lot for me, and I wouldn't want to suddenly just stop going to their house just because of Ron."

Draco was getting heated over this. He didn't really know why. Sure, he wanted to get to know Hermonie, but why was he suddenly getting so over protective all of a sudden? _It's because Ron is a twit, and she deserves better_, he told himself. It was totally normal, he told himself. Slowly, he counted to five and asked her, "Do you ever bring anyone to these dinners?"

Hermonie looked taken aback at this question. "No, because it'd be kind of serious to introduce a boyfriend to the Weasleys. Besides, I haven't really had one… I spend a lot of time working." She mumbled the last part, like she was ashamed to tell him.

"Well, maybe you should. If he's going to bring a girl around you, it's only fair that you bring a guy around him. Why should you be completely miserable?"

At that, Hermonie looked annoyed. "I never said I'm completely miserable. And I'm doing fine for myself, thanks. Now, let's get back to work." And with that, she put her head down and started scribbling away on the paper she was working on with her quill.

Hermonie joined Harry for a drink after work at the Leaky Cauldron. When she arrived, he was already sitting at the bar drinking what looked like a muggle beer. Hermonie walked over to him and threw her purse down on the counter with unnecessary force. Harry looked taken aback at this.

"Hey 'Mione, you okay?" He asked uncertainly.

"Ya, I guess." She looked at Tom. "I'll have scotch on the rocks." Now Harry really looked shocked.

"You never order hard liquor, unless something is bothering you. The last time I saw you drinking hard liquor was when you and Ron broke up. What's wrong?"

Hermonie sighed. "Malfoy was getting on my nerves today. He started asking about Ron – which is understandable, last he knew we were dating – but then he started giving me advice on Ron and I's relationship and he just… made me feel terrible." Her drink had arrived while she had been talking, and she immediately took a big swig.

Harry looked concerned. "Terrible? How? What did he say?"

Hermonie furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the floor. "He told me that I should start bringing a date to the Weasley family dinners because Ron brings Lavender. Harry, he told me that I shouldn't be 'completely miserable'! He barely even knows me! How can he know how I feel when it comes to Lavender and Ron?" She looked close to tears, so Harry brought her in close and gave her a big hug.

"Hermonie, I know that it was out of line for him to say. He shouldn't be giving you advice on your personal life while at work. But," Harry sighed, "When Ron brings Lavender around, you do get pretty down."

Hermonie took another swig of her drink and looked resigned. "I know. I feel pathetic."

Harry looked taken aback. "You are not pathetic! Never! If Ginny had started dating someone else, I wouldn't be happy. I'd be mopey and upset every time I saw them together. It's okay Hermonie! You know what you need to do?" Hermonie looked at him with glistening eyes. "You need to start dating again. When was the last time you were out on a date?"

Hermonie looked thoughtful. "Umm… like a year and a half ago?"

"Exactly. You're a beautiful woman, and you deserve someone who will adore you. Go out on a date, please, and find that someone. I love Ron, he's my best friend, but you deserve better than what he gave you. Okay?" Harry looked at Hermonie, who quickly sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"Okay Harry. You're right. I should. I love you, you know that?" She smiled at him and gave him a hug.

"Love you too, 'Mione. Now, enough with the hard liquor. Get a glass of wine instead. I know you love that one brand… um… Bermouth! Get that, and I'll tell you about how terribly embarrassed I was when a little girl basically assaulted me the one day…"

Harry went into a story about having a girl jump on top of him wanting his autograph. Despite the war being over for five years, he was still impossibly famous. Hermonie and Ron had gotten their fifteen minutes of fame after the Battle of Hogwarts for their role in helping Harry, but luckily that had not lasted long. Hermonie didn't know how Harry could stand it.

They spent the next couple of hours catching up and getting tipsy. Harry insisted on walking Hermonie back to her apartment, as it was dangerous for any witch or wizard to apparate with alcohol in their system. When they arrived there, Harry was about to floo when he turned back to Hermonie.

"Hey 'Mione?" She looked curiously at Harry. "I know that Malfoy made you face your feelings about Ron and he stepped over some lines, but you should really give him a chance. He did save our lives. I don't think he's the arrogant toerag he was in school. It's possible he was genuinely trying to help. Just think about that, okay?"

She nodded, and Harry turned and flooed back to the flat he shared with Ron. Hermonie sat down and thought about what he just said. Maybe he did change. Hermonie decided to give him a chance and try to get to know him.


End file.
